Despite the theoretical and practical importance of studying the aspect of institutional service and outreach in the professional activities of faculty members, this area remains the least studied compared to the research and teaching aspects. Meanwhile, the investigation of the service aspect allows (1) to determine the directions in which faculty members associate their profession with the broader society; 2) to study the ways of knowledge and experience application by faculty members both within and outside the academy; 3) to identify ways and means of cooperation between academic professionals and social and commercial organizations.

The purpose of this study is to study how faculty members of two universities: University of Malaya (Malaysia) and Nazarbayev University (Kazakhstan) understand and practice institutional service and outreach. The data was collected by conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews with 18 faculty members from two universities. All study participants gave their consent to collect and analyze data with the condition of maintaining anonymity.

The results of the study are presented by the types of faculty members’ service activities, the challenges faculty members face while being engaged in the institutional service and outreach, and also reveal the motives of faculty members involved in service activities. The results can inform not only the university administration, but also profitable and non-profitable organizations, as well as contribute to the research with a comparative element of various contexts on the topic.